High Elves
, , | worker = | worker_output = , | rebel = | rebel_output = | pop_growth = '-20 people' per turn. | standard_units = | racial_units = | restrictions = Available: Available on Shore: Not Available: }} The High Elf race is one of the 14 different humanoid Races found in the world of Master of Magic. High Elves originate from the plane of Arcanus. The High Elves are an advanced magical race, the only one of its kind available to Wizards on Arcanus. High Elves contribute to the controlling wizard, but he must contend with the elves' slow growth and tendency to have adversaries among the other races. Swift and focused, High Elven troops have an inherent bonus and the Forester Unit Ability. Their Longbowmen deal more damage than ordinary Bowmen. Mounted Elven Lords possess the highly effective Armor Piercing and First Strike combination, while Pegasai can pelt enemies with arrows from the air. As a magical race, each High Elven citizen adds to the wizard's power base. This additional is used in the same way that any other would be used. High Elves can build the full array of Town Buildings which enhance Worker and Farmer productivity, making large elven cities incredibly strong. Their towns grow extremely slowly, and their top-tier units require some prohibitively expensive projects to reach, demanding the wizard pick his goal carefully. In all, the High Elves are a strictly economic choice— the type of race which needs to work strategically through a huge "cost structure" to its unassailable end-stage strength. Description Physical Features The High Elves are a tall, slender, and blonde-haired race, with piercing, intelligent eyes. Their skin is tanned by years outdoors, yet remains flawless. Their senses are trained to a peak. The other humanoid races find them beautiful and highly intimidating, but the elves of Arcanus are benign towards other civilized peoples. Still, they remember times long past on Arcanus and Myrror, and have not forgotten the schisms with their Dark cousins and the Dwarves, nor offenses committed by the various beast races. High Elves are dead-set in their ways, with passing skill in magic, arms, and the creation of great works. These are the issues underlying their Normal Units' bonus properties, extensive urban tech potential, innate , and stagnant growth rate. Society Elven civilization is ancient beyond reckoning, top-heavy, and decadent. They maintain a secular caste society; family clans, or Houses, are exclusively engaged in a professional sphere: be it mercantile, a craft, agriculture, warfare, magic, et al. A House's particular calling is said to run through the family with the blood. The martial and magically-gifted Houses are large, self-contained noble clans. Elves immersed in the economy hail from smaller houses with less certain prospects. The needs of business warrant frequent interactions, and this leads to marriages, alliances, and rivalries between the minor High Elven Houses. Lovers of nature to the point that their grandest cities can barely be told apart from a forest, High Elves choose to align themselves with the natural notions of conservatism and eternity, rather than adaptation and conquest. This has prevented their otherwise above-human skills and abilities from establishing the High Elves in dominance on Arcanus. High Elves can build most of the available buildings. Considering their additional income, High Elves can achieve near-maximum productivity per population, second only to the Dark Elves on Myrror. Still, advanced projects like the Mechanicians' Guild and Merchants' Guild take both of these slow-growing races a long time to reach. In their society, such projects could represent ambitious moves or cooperation among the major clans. On the other hand, High Elven society is secular and cannot build Parthenons, Cathedrals or the Oracle, leading to unrest in cases of high taxes or racial antagonism. The highest development levels should only be sought by a Wizard with some means of overcoming this problem. Army Most of the High Elf army benefits from a racial bonus of and will normally cause more damage to their enemies. This is particularly useful to their Longbowmen, and their Elven Lords gain an additional 10% giving them a with their attacks. Given the heightened expense of developing a good military arm in their cities, though, High Elven units are not terribly sturdy, with their extra usually being poor compensation for having baseline and . A wizard of the High Elves should deploy with the strategy in mind to hit first and hit hard. They are at their best fighting rival wizards who rely on curses and control effects, and in Encounters with creatures just sluggish enough to yield the initiative or catch a ton of arrows. A viable, and perhaps even preferred, alternative is to steer the High Elves along the economic track, and use them to power research, Fantastic Units, and Heroes. Seek Longbowmen, perhaps, but keep on the defense where archery is strongest, until you are ready to cream everyone with magic. Army List Below is a comparative list of all High Elf Normal Units. This list shows all units at their first , with no additional modifiers or magical effects. Force Composition High Elves have one of the most well-rounded forces among all the races. They can produce strong melee attackers in Elven Lords, strong ranged attackers in Longbowmen, and mobile magic attackers in Magicians. The High Elf army can benefit from the early access to Longbowmen and gradually increase its army's strength by adding Elven Lords. Those two units can protect High Elf towns from most attacks. A stack of those two units will fare well in most encounters. If Warp Wood or Guardian Wind are in play, a High Elf wizard can also add Magicians to the stack to ensure that all types of damage can be delivered in the event that either magic or missile attacks are protected against. High Elf Settlers High Elf Settlers are a little disappointing. They possess a bonus (having no attack that could enjoy it) and the Forester ability (having insufficient Movement Allowance to utilize it). Forester can still be put to good use if you have some way of speeding these Settlers up, but the is meaningless. High Elf Settlers are 50% more expensive than the baseline template. On the bright side, High Elf Settlers are also somewhat more to enemy magic than the norm. Nevertheless, do not expose settlers to combat. Some circumstances may encourage creating new High Elf settlements. If your capital race is High Elven or on good terms with them, and/or you have no access to the Myrran races which generate , a few elven settlements in land balanced between fertility and production can become extremely strong as time passes. High Elves can take full advantage of mineral wealth. Mithril and Admantium deposits in particular can give their hard-hitting outrageous damage and some much-needed defenses. High Elf Spearmen High Elf Spearmen possess a racial bonus, which allows them to deliver a little more damage with each attack. This makes them more dangerous than the "baseline" Spearmen template, especially as they gain more Experience Levels. Furthermore, High Elf Spearmen have a higher score, which protects them somewhat from enemy spells and Special Attacks. They also have the Forester ability, which means that they spend only 1 Movement Point on entering Forest tiles - but this normally has no effect on their overland speed since they only have 1 Movement Point to spend each turn anyway. For these advantages, the High Elf Spearmen cost 50% more than the "baseline" template, but are still very cheap. High Elf Swordsmen High Elf Swordsmen possess a racial bonus, which allows them to deliver a little more damage with each attack. This makes them more dangerous than the "baseline" Swordsmen template, especially as they gain more Experience Levels. Furthermore, High Elf Swordsmen have a higher score, which protects them somewhat from enemy spells and Special Attacks. They also have the Forester ability, which means that they spend only 1 Movement Point on entering Forest tiles - but this normally has no effect on their overland speed since they only have 1 Movement Point to spend each turn anyway. For these advantages, the High Elf Swordsmen cost 50% more than the "baseline" template, but are still rather cheap. High Elf Halberdiers High Elf Halberdiers possess a racial bonus, which allows them to deliver a little more damage with each attack. This makes them more dangerous than the "baseline" Halberdiers template, especially as they gain more Experience Levels. Furthermore, High Elf Halberdiers have a higher score, which protects them somewhat from enemy spells and Special Attacks. They also have the Forester ability, which means that they spend only 1 Movement Point on entering Forest tiles - but this normally has no effect on their overland speed since they only have 1 Movement Point to spend each turn anyway. For these advantages, the High Elf Halberdiers cost 50% more than the "baseline" template, and have an Upkeep Cost of per turn. High Elf Cavalry High Elf Cavalry's primary advantage is that it has a bonus, which raises the average damage output of this unit by a small (but significant) amount. It is thus more likely to kill off enemy figures during a First Strike attack, and therefore potentially reduces damage to the High Elf Cavalry unit. Furthermore, High Elf Cavalry possesses the Forester ability, which allows this unit to enter any overland Forest tile at a cost of only 1 Movement Point. In areas with plentiful Forests and/or flat terrain, High Elf Cavalry should be able to move 2 tiles per turn - making them quite speedy. If the enemy pursues, simply retreat through a Forest. Note also that the Forester ability applies to all units stacked with the High Elf Cavalry, but won't help when the stack contains units that are slower than the Cavalry themselves. Finally, thanks to racial bonuses, High Elf Cavalry have a bonus, which can help somewhat to protect them from some enemy spells and ill effects. The price paid for all these bonuses is a 50% higher construction cost, and an Upkeep Cost increased to per turn. This is a very fair price to pay for all the above. High Elf Magicians High Elf Magicians have an edge over other Magicians in several ways. Probably the most important one is that High Elf Magicians have a Movement Allowance of , which allows them to deftly evade enemy Melee Attackers quite easily. This also means that they benefit from their own innate Forester ability, which allows them to enter any Forest tile at a cost of only 1 Movement Point. Thus, if ample Forests are present, High Elf Magicians can move two tiles per turn through them. Furthermore, High Elf Magicians have an innate bonus, which increases the average damage output of their attacks by about by default - a seemingly small but overall quite effective increase. Also, they possess , the minimum score required to gain immunity to some ill effects. The price paid for these bonuses is a 50% higher construction cost, and an Upkeep Cost increased to per turn. Thus, High Elf Magicians are expensive, but are also quite useful. Longbowmen Longbowmen have a respectable Ranged Attack, which can be quite deadly to lightly-armored opponents. As the unit gains Experience its Ranged Attack becomes significantly stronger, and can easily threaten even stronger opponents. Elven Lords Elven Lords are shock cavalry, and are some of the most powerful Normal Units in the game. Their Melee Attack benefits from , and has the ability to Pierce Armor. If used properly, this attack can also utilize First Strike to wipe out enemy units before they can even react. In addition, Elven Lords are very Resistant to Curses and other ill effects, and can potentially become immune to them. Pegasai Pegasai (plural of Pegasus) are a type of Normal Unit. This unit is unique to the High Elf Race, and can only be built in High Elf towns. Pegasai work well as Ranged Attackers, Melee Attackers and scouts. They are Flying and remarkably fast, allowing them to maneuver easily during combat to engage the weakest enemy units and destroy them, or fly in to close range and shower the enemy with missiles. Catapult Catapults have a Ranged Attack that can be used to damage even highly-armored enemy units, but is primarily used for destroying walls during siege combat at an enemy town. Trireme The Trireme is a Ship which can transport up to 2 units across bodies of water, and can travel at a fairly good rate. Early in the game, Triremes can help empires expand rapidly across short continental gaps or large inland seas. This is very important for High Elf empires, particularly when looking for suitable races to conquer before the mid-game phase occurs. Triremes are not very effective in combat. If one is lost, and units it was transporting at the time will sink with it, so it is important to avoid combat. Try not to rely on these for long trans-oceanic journeys. Galley The Galley is a strong transport Ship, which can carry up to 5 units across Oceans quite rapidly. This is a good ship to have in the later game, when an empire is expanding into or has gained a foothold on another continent. This will be important for more High Elf empires as they run out of races to conquer on their home continent, or for rapid colonization across the water. Galleys are fairly good in combat, is quite tough, and can be relied upon to transport troops over larger distances. Nonetheless, if a Galley does sink, all units it was transporting will immediately drown. Citizens All High Elf Towns contain High Elf citizens. These match the output of most other citizens, at , per Farmer, and per Worker. However, each High Elf citizen also produces an extra --even the rebels! High Elf citizens look like this: : High Elf Farmer. : High Elf Worker. : High Elf Rebel. Technology High Elves are a smart, skillful race in the scheme of things; they have access to many late-game military/industrial goodies that encourage a patient, managerial style of play. Even without the Parthenon and Cathedral, their production will tend to be ahead of other Arcanian races at all times. Many players will lead High Elves for this reason alone, not caring as much about the industry. The universal rule with any slow-growing race is to get a Farmers' Market and Sawmill running. These structures should exist in every High Elven settlement. They speed up technological advancement and, alternatively, enable Housing to steadily increase the Wizard's power base. High Elven initial and end-stage productivity is compared below, taking into account the extent of productivity-enhancing Town Buildings available to this race, and assuming a Tax Rate of for comparative purposes. The Building Chart The chart below shows all Town Buildings that can be constructed in High Elf towns, as well as the buildings that cannot be constructed. It also shows the requirements to construct each building. Interracial Relations Patchy interracial relations make High Elves an unwieldy choice for the aspiring conqueror. Creating numerous elven settlements, to skip this problem and slowly build up a great instead, tends to be a good idea. The High Elves are old allies of civilized humans and Halflings, with shared ideals, complimentary strengths, and longstanding trust. High Elves have little else to work with, though, being tense with all other races (particularly Myrrans). Towards their evil Myrran kin, the Dark Elves, they are inveterate foes. While an empire's Fortress is inside an elven town, all other elves belonging to this empire feel no adverse effect to their Unrest levels. Thus, the level of Unrest in each High Elven settlement is based only on the current Tax Rate and other external factors. The same applies to any High Men, Nomad, and Halfling towns under the control of a High Elven government - they feel no extra Unrest. Elves under the rule of an empire governed by any one of these races feel no extra Unrest, either. Problems dealing with the other races, though, are exacerbated by the High Elves' lack of religious institutions available for construction, which normally calm unrest. High Elves under the control of a non-human race should prioritize construction of a Shrine, Temple, and Animists' Guild, to quell as many Rebels as possible while leveraging the other benefits of these buildings. The table below breaks down all race relations regarding High Elf empires. The same values are used for High Elf towns controlled by empires of different races. Complementary Magic High Elves are a race to consider for tricks like Artificer + Runemaster or 11 solid-color books, or just about any magic-intensive setup that cannot be used with Myrran. Even a slight boost to the at the very beginning can save a bunch of turns in overland casting. They can assist in summoning and maintaining small armies of early Fantastic Units better than the other Arcanian races. Their units, wide in variety but universally hard-hitting, synergize with Enchantments of all kinds. In the long run, this race has problems with Myrror that may need to be addressed with spells. Note that the three other magical races, Beastmen, Dark Elves, and Draconians, are Myrrans with far superior powers. And all of the Myrrans have a poor opinion of High Elves. It can hurt to have the High Elves nudged towards irrelevance, because they are a difficult race to nurture. Life High Elf cities generally have a high technology level, and their bonus per citizen is a very strong incentive to grow their cities as large as possible; but they are hampered by a shortage of unrest suppression buildings and a very poor growth rate. Stream of Life is an amazingly effective solution to both problems. On a more prosaic note, their lack of Shamans and Priests and the low hit point counts of their units make the Healing and Mass Healing spells especially valuable for them. Nature The primary contribution of to a High Elf empire would be to augment or even possibly replace its armies with powerful Fantastic Units. Gaia's Blessing will benefit the High Elves by improving their population growth and improving their food production to support larger towns. Gaia's Blessing may be the only way a High Elf town will be able to Purify corrupted tiles. Nature's Cures, Herb Mastery, and Regeneration (Spell) will be very useful due to the lack of Shamans or Priests that speed recovery. Sorcery magic offers several powerful creatures in the late game (particularly the Phantom Beast and Sky Drake) which can again be used to augment or gradually replace High Elf Normal Units as they become too weak to contend with the enemy. Invisibility (Spell) and Flight can be used to ensure initiative for Elven Lords to make good use of their First Strike ability. Chaos When a Wizard aims to develop the economy of a magical race like the High Elves, gives both the process and the result some teeth. Hell Hounds, one of the most cost-effective early units, can be helped along by High Elf townsfolk in place of Normal Units, with no opportunity loss to a town's food and productivity. Fire Giant is a research target of particular interest to this race. Attach the giant to an elven army to give the entire stack Pathfinding. Generally, can replace reliance on elven Normal Units with some of the strongest Fantastic Units in the game. offers devastating global spells to use against your opponent, as well as superb tools in combat, but they all require to research and use— and each High Elf citizen creates power. Death With an even stronger Armor Piercing First Strike attack than Paladins, but weaker defense, Elven Lords are one of the very best Berserk targets in the game. As with , the offers cheap summoned flesh which the High Elves can support in lieu of normal unit production, allowing them to develop their cities. Category:Races Category:Arcanian Races Category:High Elves